Meet Me In Mabini (City Series #2)

Chapter 10

#MMIM10

"BIBO SEA! BIBO SEA!" the crowd cheered as we entered the gymnasium.

Sinamaan ko ng tingin si Vale pero tinignan niya lamang ako habang nakahalukipkip. We walked up to some empty seats, which were hard to find kasi ang daming mga nanunuod!

"Sino ba naglalaro ngayon?" tanong ko kay Vale.

"SEA versus SAMCIS," he answered.

Tumaas ang kilay ko. SAMCIS made it to the finals?

Honestly, where have I been? Para akong tumira sa ilalim ng bato. Wala na akong alam sa mga ganap dito.

"Bakit ka ba nanunuod? Eh hindi mo naman gusto manuod ng mga gan'to. BBEAL nga, ayaw mo, diba?" tuloy tuloy kong tanong kay Vale.

Kumunot naman ang noo niya at tumingin siya sa akin. "How'd you know that?"

"Duh?!" I said. "Nung may tune up game ang UB tska SLU dito? Ako yung tinawag mong loner!"

Nanliit ang mata niya. "I don't remember anything."

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes and looked at the score board. 58-49. Mukhang lamang ang SAMCIS. "So bakit nga tayo nanunuod?"

"My bandmate's playing," he answered nonchalantly.

Nanlaki ang mata ko nang makita ko si Ven na pinapasok sa court, but I shook it off. He looks nice, I guess. Siya yung nag-chat sa'kin noon... diba? Am I wrong? Nag-reply ba ako sa kanya? Sana pala inayos ko mga reply ko. Gwapo naman pala, eh.

"Go, Salazar!" I shouted and clapped my hands.

Biglang tumingin sa akin yung babaeng naka-upo harap namin. Naalala ko tuloy na nasa side pala kami ng SAMCIS, eh SEA pala si Seven.

"You know him?" tanong ni Vale.

"Nag-chat siya noon," I answered. "Pero once lang. Tska nakita ko siya last year noong intrams rin."

Hindi na ako sinagot ni Vale at nilabas niya na lang yung phone niya para mag-laro habang kinakain yung peach mango pie niya. Hindi naman ako gaano ka-gutom kasi kinain ko na yung Jollibee sa sasakyan ni Vale. Mukhang kabado pa nga siya nung kinakain ko kaya bigla akong naalala kanina yung sinabi ni Valir na ayaw ng kuya niya kapag may pagkain sa loob ng sasakyan niya.

I carefully watched the game and observed Ven's movements. Mataas yung talon niya, tska sobrang bilis niya pa gumalaw. I think throughout this entire quarter, hindi pa siya nakaka-miss. Lahat ay pasok, kaya naman nahabol kaagad ng SEA ang lamang.

"He's good." I told Vale. "Bakit hindi siya nag-varsity?"

"Busy," sagot ni Vale habang naglalaro. I wasn't sure if he was talking about Seven or himself. He didn't even give me a glimpse!

Umirap ako at humalukipkip. Nanuod na lamang ako ng laro habang nagpapatuloy na mag-ML si Vale sa tabi ko. The only thing that made him stop was a phone call from Raffy.

"Hello?" sagot niya sa tawag. "Akala ko umuwi ka na? Diba may report kayo bukas?"

I looked at him and mouthed, 'anyare?' but all he did was place his hand on my face to shoo my face away.

"Nasaan ka?" he asked. I couldn't exactly hear what Raffy was saying, but I knew Vale wanted to go. "Puntahan na kita."

Tumaas ang kilay ko. Magtataxi na lang siguro ako pauwi, since Raffy really needs him. I fixed my eyes on the scoreboard and tried my best to not listen in on his conversation, which was pretty easy since he ended the call pretty quickly.

Vale cleared his throat and stood up.

"Tara na," he said.

Kumunot naman ang noo ko.